Red Like Roses (Part 2)
by The Palmtop Tiger
Summary: We were near the end. I knew it and by the looks of it she certainly knew it. At least she didn't have to suffer for long. Her heart stopped beating after approximately three minutes. It wasn't enough time, not nearly enough. I had so many things I wanted to tell her in those measly three minutes. How happy she made me, how beautiful she truly was, and how much I cared about her...


**A/N:** Hey readers! So this was inspired by the fan art picture "Red Stained Snow" by Skireteh Fox. The art coupled with Red Like Roses Part 2, from the RWBY soundtrack, ended up being blended together into this one-shot. Enjoy! :D

**1/8/2015:** My old account was unfortunately deleted! So I'm reposting all old fics. Thanks for your continued support everyone! :D

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY, Skireteh's fan art, or Red Like Roses Part 2.

* * *

><p><span>Red Like Roses<span>

**~0~**

_I couldn't take it, couldn't stand another minute;_

_Couldn't bear another day without you in it._

_All of the joy that I had known for all my life_

_Was stripped away from me the minute that you died._

Why did this have to happen...?

I have a lot of question right now but this one seems to be more prominent than the others, like a broken record that just won't stop repeating.

A lone white tombstone, placed next to a freshly dug grave, stood in the middle of the shadowy forest clearing. The Emerald forest, which had once been a place that had once been filled with happy memories, is now a place filled with the presence of death.

This forest was my sanctuary; the one place I could go to when the burden of everyday troubles became too much. But, now I can barely stand to be here. It holds to many memories, to many memories of _her..._

_To have you in my life was all I ever wanted,_

_But now without you I'm a soul forever haunted._

_Can't help but feel that I had taken you for granted;_

_No way in Hell that I can ever comprehend this._

Dark clouds gather in the sky, acting as an effective mantel of darkness against the normally sunny sky. The weather was actually perfect for today though, the ominous clouds effectively echoing the feelings storming in my heart.

Tears well up in the corners of my eyes but I refuse to let them fall. She wouldn't want me to cry but instead, send her off with a smile. Even though I know that is what she would want I can't force a smile, not even a small one. Whenever I try the memories of that day, not so long ago, keep flooding into my mind.

_I wasn't dreaming when they told me you were gone,_

_I was wide awake and feeling that they had to be wrong._

_How could you leave me when you swore that you would stay?_

_Now I'm trapped inside a nightmare every single f'ing day._

I was the one who saw her fall to the ground, broken and bleeding. I called out hoping, no praying, that someone would be in the area and hear my desperate cries for help. That they would show up at the last possible second, just as the hero in a fairytale always does, and that she would be saved. Instead I was alone, the only one who saw her final moments, as the life left her eyes. The silver eyes that once shined so brightly were empty, cold, and dead.

_It's like a movie, but there's not a happy ending;_

_Every scene fades black, and there's no pretending._

_This little fairy tale doesn't seem to end well,_

_There's no knight in shining armor who will wake me from the spell._

Now that she's gone I can't help but remember all the little thing I loved about her. She always rambled about the most random things, not making sense at least half the time. For instance she once stopped in the middle of the hallway just to say that my name means White Snow. Of course I already knew this, and told her so, but then she elaborated a little on the statement. Saying that it suddenly reminded her of an old American fairytale character named Snow White.

Apparently in the story she is put to sleep by an evil queen and her prince wakes her up from eternal slumber with a kiss, or at least that's how I think it goes, I've never actually seen the film. She made me promise to watch it with her, since apparently my bunkmate is a Disney nut, but we just never got around to it. How ironic that I'm remembering this now. Maybe my Prince Charming will come and wake me from this dream. This never ending nightmare in which she is gone.

_I know you didn't plan this;_

_You tried to do what's right._

_But in the middle of this madness,_

_I'm the one you left to win this fight._

It's all my fault that she died. I was in the forests, actually in the very clearing where she is buried, and was completely surrounded by the Creatures of Grimm. If someone had told me somebody was going to die that day I would have sworn it would have been me, not her. The Beowolves were all around and I was already loosing blood from multiple wounds. The pain making my vision blur and my grip on Myrtenaster loosen, letting the sword slip from my hands and fall to the grassy ground.

_Red like roses_

_Fills my head with dreams and finds me_

_Always closer_

_To the emptiness and sadness_

_That has come to take the place of you._

A Beowulf charged and I closed my eyes, waiting for the flash of pain signaling that the end had come. A loud crack echoed throughout the forest and, for me the end, never came. I felt something wet drip onto my face, just below the faint scar on my left eye, and opened my eyes. The monster stood completely still, looming over me, obviously about to go in for the kill.

Another wet drop dotted my face and this time I saw where it came from. The Beowolf's throat was practically torn open from a well placed bullet. There was only one person I knew who could make a shot like this...

"Weiss!" A familiar voice called, filled with desperation and panic.

I nearly cried, the tears of relief welling up in my eyes. She was here! She had come to save me! Everything was going to be all right! Those were the thoughts that rushed through my mind. Rose petals scattered, floating down from the sky, and a familiar red cloak suddenly appeared in front of me, as if some kind of shield.

"Run Weiss." She commanded, readying Crescent Rose. "Get out now while they're distracted. You can get away!" I should have listened to her back then, if I had then we would still be together.

**~ ~0~ ~**

_I know you're broken down by anger and by sadness;_

_You feel I left you in a world that's full of madness._

_Wish I could talk to you, if only for a minute;_

_Make you understand the reasons why I did it._

I didn't wake up that day and expect it to be my last but then again nobody ever does that. I regret leaving her alone that day, not sticking with her like I should have. We had just had a fight, a pretty bad one, and I figured she was just going to cool off a little.

I told my theory to Juane and he burst out laughing, something about "She is the Ice Queen I doubt she can cool off anymore." That comment earned him a hard punch to the shoulder; nobody gets to talk about Weiss like that, especially when I'm around! The worst part about all this though, and trust me being dead is pretty bad, is that I never got to apologize...

_I wanna tell you that you're all that ever mattered;_

_Want you to know that, for eternity, I'm shattered._

_I tried so hard just to protect you, but I failed to,_

_And in a prison of abandonment I've jailed you._

I had planned out the entire scenario in my head. Weiss would come back to the dorm, after twenty minutes or so and I would be there, waiting, with a box of cookies as a peace offering and my best heartfelt apology. She would pretend to upset with me for a little while, but eventually we would make up and everything would go back to the way it was.

Unfortunately things didn't go exactly how I had planned. She didn't show up after twenty, she didn't even show up after thirty. After forty-five I started to get nervous. But it wasn't until she was missing for over an hour that I actually set out to look for her. God, I feel like such an idiot now! If I had arrived earlier then the entire outcome could have been changed; I wouldn't be separated from the only one who truly matters to me. If I had arrived earlier I could have protected her but I didn't and there is nothing I can do now to change that.

_I never planned that I would leave you there alone,_

_I was sure that I would see you when I made it back home._

_And all the times I swore that it would be okay;_

_Now I'm nothing but a liar, and you're thrown into the fray._

Emerald forest is a relatively big place, but also a pretty quiet one. The sounds of a battle, clanging of metal and squeals of pain, resounded throughout the still air. Every pain filled sound just made my heart sink further as I sped through the forest.

Is that Weiss? Is she injured? Is she okay? She has to be okay...

These thoughts raced through my head and I quickly shook my head, trying to dispel them.

_Get it together Rose! Weiss is tough; she can take care of herself_

My Semblance activates and in a flurry of rose petals my form blurs, moving so fast now that I'm almost invisible to the human eye. In less than a minute the bloody scene of the battle enters my field of vision. The bodies of a few slain monsters were scattered around the clearing, the few left alive were warily standing on the clearing's outer edge, and in the middle of the carnage stood Weiss. She may have been disarmed and covered in blood, but in my eyes she had never been more beautiful. All that mattered was that she was still alive... still alive and about to be mauled! My eyes widened in panic and almost instantaneously Crescent Rose shifted into its gun form, fired off a bullet, and swiftly killed the monster that was seconds away from killing her.

"Weiss!" I call franticly. She doesn't answer my call, but she doesn't need to, the relieved look that lit up her features was more than enough.

"Run Weiss!" I order loudly, expertly twirling my scythe in a blur of silver, black, and red.

She doesn't run, maybe she is frozen from shock, so I turn towards her.

_This bedtime story ends with misery ever after,_

_The pages are torn, and there's no final chapter._

_I didn't have a choice, I did what I had to do;_

_I made a sacrifice, but forced a bigger sacrifice on you._

I was distracted for only a second, about to give Weiss the order to run once again, but that was all it took. A Beowolf, probably the alpha because it was larger than the others, lunged at me. Thanks to the moment of weakness instead of dodging with my speed or chopping its claw off the monster was able to clip my hand with its outstretched claws. I gritted my teeth, a soft hiss of pain escaping from my lips, as Crescent Rose fell from my grasp and skidded across the grass to rest a few meters away.

I was about to run and grab my weapon when a shrill sound made my blood run cold. Weiss was backed against a tree, it seemed she was the one who screamed, being slowly approached by yet another one of those monsters. I had never heard her voice so full of fear; the Weiss I know is proud, confident, and strong.

_I know you've lived a nightmare;_

_I caused you so much pain._

_But, baby, please don't do what I did;_

_I don't want you to waste your life in vain._

My eyes darted quickly to Crescent Rose, lying a few meters away, and then back to her. For once in my life I didn't trust my Semblance to get me where I needed to go fast enough. The choice was pretty clear cut, save my own skin by grabbing my scythe and let her fight Beowolf's barehanded or run to her and figure something out once I got there. The choice was obvious.

As soon as I started running a small smile graced my features.

_She always did call me a dunce... maybe she was right._

**~ ~0~ ~**

_Every nightmare just discloses_

_It's your blood that's red like roses,_

_And no matter what I do,_

_Nothing ever takes the place of you._

I was ready for death, had even gone so far as to except it. My only regret would have been not apologizing to her sooner and then getting us into this mess in the first place. As the Beowolf's claws came down in their deadly arc I looked over at her, a small smile on my face. There was one positive thing about this situation; at least I didn't have to die alone.

In a blur of red and rose petals the claw stopped. For thee second time that day I felt something warm and wet drip onto my face, but this time it wasn't the Beowolf's blood. She stood in front of me, arms stretched out protectively, and a set of claws through her chest.

_Red like roses_

_Fills my head with dreams and finds me_

_Always closer_

_To the emptiness and sadness_

_That has come to take the place of you._

"No..." I whispered as the claws were jerked out and she started to fall to the ground.

"Ruby!" I caught her in my arms, shielding her already broken body from the fall. Her face was rapidly growing paler, the red blush in her cheeks flowing out through the five ragged punctures through her chest.

I laid her gently on the ground, moved to remove my jacket, and used it to try and stop up the raw punctures in her chest. The gesture was probably futile but at this point anything would be better than letting the life slowly bleed out of her.

_You're not the only one who needed me; I thought you understood._

_You were the one I needed, and you left me as I always feared you would._

_Would I change_

_it if I could?_

_It doesn't matter how,_

_The petals scatter now._

A shaking hand came up to brush something off my face."C'mon Weiss don't cry."I lifted a sleeve to wipe my eyes and it came back damp with tears. I had't even known I was crying. A soft smile graced her face and I struggled to match it with one of my own.

"That's better. You look much better when you smile. Not a scary and certainly more beauti-" A coughing fit racked her frail body, cutting off the compliment. We were near the end. I knew it and by the looks of it she certainly knew it. At least she didn't have to suffer for long. Her heart stopped beating after approximately three minutes. It wasn't enough time, not nearly enough. I had so many things I wanted to tell her in those measly three minutes. How happy she made me, how beautiful she truly was, and how much I try cared about her...

It wasn't until the last warm puff of air left her body, and it went limp in my arms, that I allowed the waterworks to flow. How could I not cry; how could I not despair?

_After all she was the only person in this world who made me feel truly human._

_Red like roses_

_Fills my head with dreams and finds me_

_Always closer_

_To the emptiness and sadness_

_That has come to take the place of you._

But now she's gone, just like all the others, and I'm alone again. If I had a chance to change her fate, to redo that day over, then there is no question that I would. If necessary I would give my life just so she could be the one standing here now instead of me; so her life would continue and not have been tragically ended.

I know that nothing will ever make me forget about her, but honestly I wouldn't have it any other way. I cast one last glance at the white tombstone before departing and my last thought is,"I wonder if she would like the inscription?"

**R. I. P**

**Ruby Rose**

**Friend, sister, dunce, leader, team-mate, and a true Huntress.**

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Whew my first one-shot is finally done. Once again I got the idea for this story from "Red Stained Snow" and "Red Stained Bumblebee" on deviantArt. Anyways feedback is appreciated! I'm really curious about what you readers think off my writing, so yeah comments and criticism is appreciated. Feel free to leave it in a review or pm me anytime. Thanks for reading! :D

**1/8/2014: **Whether this is your first time reading this fic or if you're re-reading I would like to thank you for your support! *bows*

_~ The Palmtop Tiger_


End file.
